South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix makes its Nasdaq debut on Friday with a $28 billion initial public offering, capitalizing on soaring global demand for AI-related memory chips and becoming the second-largest IPO in history. The company will sell 17.79 million new shares as American Depositary Receipts, with ten ADRs representing one common share on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
SK Hynix’s listing reflects explosive investor appetite for the company’s high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which power AI systems at Nvidia, Google, and other major tech firms. The offering drew more than seven times the available shares in demand from global investors, according to Reuters, demonstrating institutional confidence in the chipmaker’s position at the center of the AI infrastructure boom.
The South Korean company has become the most sought-after supplier of HBM chips after 14 years of strategic bets on the technology. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said last month that SK Hynix would remain the U.S. chipmaker’s largest memory partner and that the current memory chip shortage would persist for a few years due to strong demand. SK Hynix has already sold out its entire 2026 production capacity across DRAM, NAND, and HBM products, underlining the scale of global demand.
SK Hynix plans to use the IPO proceeds to build chip factories in South Korea and purchase advanced chipmaking equipment, including extreme ultraviolet scanners from Dutch equipment maker ASML. The company’s leadership has warned that memory shortages will likely continue through 2030 as AI data center buildout accelerates, justifying the massive capital expansion.
The offering ranks as the second-largest share sale in history, surpassed only by SpaceX’s record-breaking $85.7 billion IPO last month. It exceeds Saudi Aramco’s $25.6 billion offering in 2019 and Alibaba’s similarly sized IPO in 2014. Major institutional investors including Baillie Gifford Overseas, Coatue Management, and Situational Awareness Partners indicated interest in purchasing up to a combined $7 billion of SK Hynix’s ADRs.
Analysts say the U.S. listing addresses a long-standing accessibility challenge for global investors. Dave Mazza, chief executive of Roundhill Investments, which manages a DRAM manufacturer ETF, told Reuters that SK Hynix had been “one of the most important companies in the world that most U.S. institutions could not easily own.” The listing removes what investors call an “accessibility discount” and is expected to help SK Hynix narrow its valuation gap with U.S. rival Micron, which has benefited from direct access to the world’s largest pool of capital.
SK Hynix’s shares have surged 680% over the past 12 months, yet the company’s valuation metrics remain disciplined. Its 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio has actually declined to 5.5 times from 7.9 times at the end of October, reflecting the massive earnings growth driven by AI demand. The company’s profitability has grown so substantially that each employee is expected to receive an annual bonus of approximately $574,500.
Sources
- Reuters — SK Hynix launch details, $28 billion target, ADR structure, investor interest, and oversubscription data
- Bloomberg — Multiple times oversubscription confirmation and listing timing
- SK Hynix official news — HBM market share projections and capacity expansion plans
- Data Center Dynamics — Memory production capacity scaling in 2026
